Sunday, April 8, 2012
New owners Ali and Nadine Ismail have transformed an old favorite breakfast nook near Honeymoon Island with a lot of love, hard work and quality time.
New owners Ali and Nadine Ismail work together from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m. seven days a week at Benedicts Restaurant. They have have three children and have been married for 14 years. When asked how they do it, Nadine responds, “We just get along,” and Ali matter-of-factly adds with a contagious smile, “She runs the front. I run the back.” Benedicts is tucked in the back of Causeway Plaza. The front porch is dog friendly and the owners just added gelato to the menu so that on hot afternoons visitors from Honeymoon Island can enjoy a cool sweet treat. The owners have already renovated the space and expanded the breakfast and lunch menu options. "The namesake eggs Benedict is still the favorite, but we have lots of options," Ali said. …
28.051874
-82.779304
Benedicts Restaurant
2676 Bayshore Blvd, Dunedin, FL
/articles/the-secret-ingredients-to-benedicts-restaurant
943377
/locations/6757078
Sunday, February 19, 2012
“When people go into a street tattoo shop and look through a book of flash and decide in 90 seconds on a tattoo that they will have for the rest of their lives, they tend not to be happy with it for very long,” Jason Leigh explains.
“A tattoo is art that you wear on your body forever, so you better have a love affair with what you choose,” says Jason Leigh, custom tattoo artist and owner of Plush Gallery Tattoo. That is why when a client sets an appointment with me to get a tattoo, we sit down and talk about their ideas, what they love, what their passions are, and I draw up an initial sketch. Then we take that sketch and critique it, rip it apart, change things until it is perfect. Once my client is happy, I draw up the final design. Everything I do is one-of-a-kind, after the tattoo is finished, if the client doesn’t want to keep the process, I throw it away. “When people go into a street tattoo shop and look through a book of flash (generic tattoo designs) and …
28.018947
-82.774782
1140 Main St, Dunedin, FL
/articles/plush-gallery-tattoo
/locations/6371293
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Owner Mary Lou Meyer owned galleries across the country before settling back at home in Dunedin.
Art has always been in Mary Lou Meyer's blood. For more than 50 years, she has used her art degree to teach students of all ages, from grade school to college, and she has owned galleries across the country, from Florida to Wyoming to Colorado. But Dunedin has been Meyer's home, either part-time or full, for almost 25 years, and it’s where she chose to put down roots and become a fixture in the local art scene. So it comes as no surprise that her shop 7 Arches Gallery & Boutique has quickly become a favorite with area artists. In fact, she has grown so quickly that she recently moved into a larger location to accommodate the various works she displays. “I had a gallery down the way for a year, but it was too small,” Meyer says of her …
28.021487
-82.76353
7 Arches Art Gallery & Boutique
1248 County Road 1 # 34698, Dunedin, FL
/articles/new-art-gallery-hopes-to-attract-more-patrons-artists
2049500
/locations/6321581
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Lisa Bever, owner of Tiny Treasures Boutique & Consignment, is determined to help bring mothers in the community together.
Lisa Bever and her husband didn’t think she would ever be a mother. The couple had given up hope after multiple miscarriages and years of infertility. Then, nine years later, Bever discovered she was pregnant. She was ecstatic, but she also felt conflicted about her future. She had dreamed of a baby for so long that she couldn’t bear the thought of putting her child into daycare. What kind of job could she get where she could be with her child? Could she start her own business and raise her daughter? Should she open something that would help other mothers make money so they could be home with their children? She continued planning and dreaming throughout her pregnancy and for the first few months of her daughter’s life, and conceived Tiny …
28.019409
-82.750767
Tiny Treasures Boutique & Consignment
2109 Main St Ste E1, Dunedin, FL
/articles/consignment-store-born-after-miracle-pregnancy
2051306
/locations/6310569
Monday, January 16, 2012
After working with their father as kids, the Carson brothers open a pest control business in Dunedin.
The Carson brothers, Jack and David, grew up in Gridley, Illinois, a small town of about 900 people. They were the two youngest of five children. Six years older, Jack Carson jokes that he got to be the baby of the house until first grade when Dave was born and replaced him. On March 31, 1962. when Jack and David were ages 13 and 7, respectively, their father opened a pest control company. Both boys went to work for their father right away: knocking on doors, giving away flyers and Jack sprayed houses on the weekends and all during the summers. All the money they made was saved for college. David Carson stayed in Gridley and ran the family business until 1982 when he decided he was ready to live in a warmer climate — better for humans and …
28.00595
-82.78789
Carson Pest Control
440 Douglas Ave, Dunedin, FL
/articles/carson-pest-control
943393
/locations/6349574
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Becoming a mother is what changed Awaken Organic Skincare & Boutique owner Gina Vincelli's perspective on what women do for beauty.
“Becoming a mother is what really woke me up,” Gina Vincelli, a skincare technician since 1996, tells me in her Dunedin business Awaken Organic Skincare & Boutique. “The chemicals that women get exposed to in their beauty treatments can be dangerous, and I felt obligated to let them know what they were putting on their skin.” In 2004, Vincelli thought she could advance her career by becoming a licensed medical esthetician, but it turned out that working in doctors offices was more disheartening than invigorating. “Women would walk in the front door and sneak out the back door,” she says. She yearned for an atmosphere that lifted women’s souls and their spirits. She longed for clients that left the office happier, more beautiful and more …
28.011895
-82.788821
Awaken Organic Skincare & Boutique
353 Main St, Dunedin, FL
/articles/awaken
1736429
/locations/6131987
Sunday, December 25, 2011
What I like about the Gulf Coast Skate Shop is that you can walk in — as a very ignorant dorky parent (like me) — and get patient, knowledgeable and unpretentious help.
What I like about the Gulf Coast Skate Shop is that you can walk in — as a very ignorant dorky parent (like me) — and get patient, knowledgeable and unpretentious help. Another plus for parents is that Gulf Coast Skate Shop emphasizes rider safety and sells a full line of the best protective gear. They support the Ian Tilmann Foundation, which was began after a local skater, Ian Tilmann, suffered a fatal brain injury from a longboarding accident. The foundation gives out free helmets to skaters who promise to wear them. Rob Vaillancourt Jr., the owner of the shop, built his childhood love for skating into what we know as the Gulf Coast Skate Shop 10 years ago. His expertise, passion and knowledge have kept him open since 2001. The shop …
28.019464
-82.769752
Gulf Coast Skate Shop
1346 Main St, Dunedin, FL
/articles/gulf-coast-skate-shop
944749
/locations/6013577
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Stuck on stocking stuffers? Need an idea for that person who's got everything? Dunedin Patch pulled together some ideas from some "Moms & Pops" featured this year.
Meet the Moms and Pops brings you, the last-minute shopper (wink, wink), some holiday gift ideas from a few of the local businesses we have interviewed this year. But by all means, poke around in shops nearby and shout out gift ideas you find so others may benefit! Now go forth and shop! But most importantly, have a safe and fun holiday.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Kim Engle finds strength and peace from being her own boss.
In early 2010, Kim Engle found the space on Broadway to rent and was excited about her store, but after she signed the lease and looked around at her new storefront she started to cry. Engle never imagined herself as a small business owner. But in the eight years she had been a massage therapist, both studios where she worked went bankrupt and she felt unwilling to start over at a third business that might also fail. She was ready to be in charge and know what was going on behind the scenes. So in 2010, with the support of her husband and her mother, she opened Pure Harmony Massage Studio and Earth Boutique on the corner of Broadway and Skinner Avenue. “I had never considered being a massage therapist either,” Engle says. She felt drawn …
28.015923
-82.789823
Pure Harmony
1004 Broadway, Dunedin, FL
/articles/pure-harmony
1736427
/locations/5941157
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Janet Long's life came full circle after she took over the downtown cookie shop.
After 15 years of running edible bouquet shop Kookie Krums, owner Kelly McMurtey thought of one person to buy the business: longtime customer Janet Long. “She was so creative,” McMurtrey says of Long. “She would throw these amazing birthday parties for her daughter, and I thought she was perfect for the job. I called her and asked her if she knew anyone who might want to buy Kookie Krums. But really I wanted her to buy it.” It turns out the timing was perfect for Long. After quitting her job as an office manager at an insurance company to care for her ailing young daughter, she was ready to get back to work, but she needed something that was creative and family friendly. Long called McMurtrey back a couple of hours later and said she …
28.012594
-82.785702
/articles/kookie-krums
/locations/5846247
Jackie Reyes
9:20 am on Thursday, February 9, 2012
The store is amazing, everything you need is there at unbelievable low prices!!! more ›